Women's Basketball at No. 17/15 Smith
NEWMAC Tournament Final
Sunday, February 25 | 1 p.m.
Ainsworth Gymnasium | Northampton, Mass.

SERIES HISTORY
•    Babson is 40-17 all-time against Smith in a series that dates back to the 1982-83 campaign.
•    The Beavers have dropped five straight and seven of their last eight games to the Pioneers since 2018. 
•    The Green and White has suffered four straight losses inside Ainsworth Gym and is seeking its first road win over Smith since 2016. 

POSTSEASON HISTORY
•    Babson is 5-3 all-time against Smith in NEWMAC Tournament play and the teams will meet in the championship game for the third year in a row and fifth time overall on Sunday.
•    The Beavers defeated the Pioneers at home to claim conference titles in 2011 and 2012, while Smith returned the favor with 2022 and 2023 championship game victories over the Green and White on its home floor.
•    All four of the previous championship games between the teams have been decided by at least 15 points. 

LAST MEETING
•    Ally Yamada led all players with 18 points and Jessie Ruffner added 14 points and 12 rebounds to help Smith defeat the Beavers, 64-50, on January 17 in Babson Park. 
•    Hannah Martin contributed 10 points, seven rebounds and three assists for the Pioneers, who extended their five-point halftime lead to as many as 15 late in the third quarter. 
•    Sophomore Chloe Perreault had 15 points and nine rebounds and classmate Allessia Carlo added 10 points off the bench for Babson, which committed 16 turnovers while attempting just four free throws in the loss. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    Fifth-seeded Babson (15-12) has won four consecutive games and upset top-seeded Springfield 64-59 in OT in Friday night's semifinals. 
•    Junior Katelyn Mollica scored 17 points and classmate Emily Flynn added 13 points, which includes the go-ahead free throws with 2:11 left in the extra-session for the Beavers, who shot 42.9 percent and got at least six points from six different players. 
•    Senior Kelly Walsh (15.6 pts, 4.0 reb, 3.8 ast, 2.0 stl) leads the team in scoring, assists and steals, Mollica (12.9 pts, 2.9 reb) ranks fourth in the league with 67 three-point field goals and first-year Samantha Reale (9.1 pts, 3.9 reb, 1.8 stl) has scored in double figures eight times in 14 games against NEWMAC foes. 
•    Babson ranks 23rd in Division III in three-point field goal percentage (33.8) and is second in the conference in field goal defense (35.1 percent) and third in the NEWMAC in scoring defense allowing just 56.2 points per game. 

SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
•    No. 17 D3hoops/No. 15 Smith (24-3) has won 10 consecutive games and is coming off an 85-66 victory over third-seeded MIT in Friday's semifinals. 
•    Yamada poured in 24 points, Sofia Rosa finished with 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting and Hannah Martin knocked down five three-pointers and totaled 17 points and six assists for the Pioneers, who shot 55.7 percent on the night. 
•    Yamada (15.0 pts, 2.2 ast) had made a league-high 85 three-pointers and is shooting 41.9 percent from deep, Rosa (14.0 pts, 7.3 reb) has eight double-doubles and is shooting 58.5 percent and Ruffner (13.1 pts, 9.1 reb, 4.7 ast) is shooting a conference-best 59.3 percent and ranks second in the NEWMAC in assists and sixth in rebounding. 
•    Smith ranks first in Division III in both field goal percentage (50.0) and three-point field goal percentage (40.1) and is 12th in scoring offense average 79.1 points per game.

POSTSEASON PEDIGREE
•    Babson enters the 2024 NEWMAC Tournament coming off back-to-back championship game appearances in 2022 and 2023. 
•    The Beavers have captured 10 NEW 8/NEWMAC Tournament championships going back to 1991 (1991, 1993, 1999, 2009-13, 2015, 2017) and are making their 19th title game appearance, 11 of which have come since 2009.
•    The Green and White advanced to the NEWMAC final eight times in the span of nine seasons from 2009-17 and captured seven conference titles during this run. 

TWO DOWN, ONE TO GO
•    The Beavers, who have won nine of their last 11 games, are one victory away from heading back to the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season following wins over Coast Guard and Springfield. 
•    Babson, which advanced to the national quarterfinals last March after reaching the second round in 2022, is looking to become the first team since Springfield in 2014 to win three straight games away from home en route to claiming a NEWMAC Tournament title. 

DRAMA QUEENS
•    Babson went to OT in a conference tournament game for the first time since 2018 and collected its first OT win in the league playoffs since 1992 on Friday night in Springfield. 
•    The game featured 11 ties and six lead changes with neither team leading by more than six. 
•    The Beavers were up 51-45 with just over four minutes to play in regulation and trailed by as many as three in the extra session before closing with an 11-3 run and surviving a potential game-tying three-pointer by the Pride in the waning seconds. 

TOURNAMENT TRENDS
•    The Beavers have outscored their first two conference tournament opponents 33-10 at the free throw line.
•    Mollica (12.0), Flynn (11.5), Reale (10.5) and junior Camilla Silk (10.5) are all averaging double figures in wins over Coast Guard and Springfield. 
•    Babson has held its first two foes to just 35 percent shooting and is allowing just 0.81 points per possession. 
•    Walsh led all players with six assists, while Carlo knocked down a pair of three-pointers in Friday's victory at Springfield. 

WALSH MAKES HER RETURN
•    After missing 15 consecutive games due to injury, Walsh made her first appearance since December 5 at Clark producing seven points on 3-of-6 shooting to go along with two rebounds and one steal in 18 minutes off the bench. 
•    Walsh, who became the 19th player in program history to surpass 1,000 points at Framingham State back in December, ranks fifth on Babson's career list with 95 three-pointers and is 10th averaging 1.94 steals in 78 career games. 
•    Walsh has reached double figures in scoring in 19 of her last 22 games going back to February 11 of last season. 

WINNING FORMULA
•    Since starting 0-2 in league play, Babson has won nine of its last 11 games by limiting its foes to just 54.9 points per game on 36.3 percent shooting.
•    The Green and White has allowed just 0.82 points per possession while outscoring its opponents by 0.16 points per trip to go along with a +4.6 rebounding margin. 
•    On the offensive end, the Beavers are shooting 41.6 percent, have turned the ball over on just 20 percent of its possessions and have made just one fewer free throw (134) than its opponents have attempted (135). They also have gotten an average of 24.8 points per game off the bench over the last 11 contests. 

TOURNAMENT TESTED
•    Walsh, Silk, seniors Rachel McMenemy and Madison Odam and junior Abby Miller have each played in 12 postseason games over the last two seasons entering this year's tournament. 
•    Walsh is averaging 14.6 points 44.4 percent shooting to go along with 3.8 rebounds and 2.1 steals and scored 21 points in last year's NEWMAC final at Smith, Odam is averaging 5.8 points and 5.6 rebounds, McMenemy (5.0 pts, 4.0 reb) is shooting 52.6 percent, and Silk has contributed 3.8 points and 4.0 boards while shooting 54.5 percent. 
•    Mollica averaged 6.4 points in seven NEWMAC and NCAA Tournament games last winter, while Davis made five starts in the postseason as a first-year in 2022. 

BEAVER BITES
•    Silk is averaging 11.2 points on 56 percent shooting and 8.7 rebounds over her last six outings.
•    Mollica, who is the first player in program history to make at least 60 three-point field goals in a season, has knocked down at least one triple in 11 straight games and 25 of 27 outings on the year.
•    Reale, who set a new career high with five pilfers at Clark, has two or more steals in seven of her last eight games. 
•    Flynn, who is averaging 11.5 points in two conference tournament, has knocked down at least two three-pointers five times against conference foes this winter and the Beavers are unbeaten in those games.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    The Beavers are 12-1 this season when taking a lead to the fourth quarter. 
•    Babson is 13-3 this winter when outrebounding its opponents.
•    The Green and White is 13-2 this year when holding its foes below 60 points. 
•    The Beavers are 11-3 on the year when shooting at least 40 percent from the field. 
•    Babson is 9-0 this season and has won 16 straight games dating back to last February when scoring at least 65 points. 
•    The Beavers are 11-2 this winter when outscoring its foes at the free throw line.

UP NEXT
•    The winner of Sunday's contest will earn the NEWMAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and will learn who they will play in next Friday's opening round during Monday's 2:30 p.m. selection show.